SKARDU (AFP) – One of two Japanese climbers was found dead and his body recovered from a mountain in northern Pakistan yesterday, with a search ongoing for the second man, an official said.
Ryuseki Hiraoka and Atsushi Taguchi were attempting to summit the 7,027-metre Spantik mountain in the Karakoram range before they went missing this week.
“The dead body of a Japanese climber was found, and a search is ongoing for the second climber,” said the Shigar district deputy commissioner Wali Ullah Falahi told AFP.
The body was found 300 metres below Camp 3, he said, set at around 6,200 metres from where climbers prepare for the final summit.
Head of Adventure Tours Pakistan Naiknam Karim which organised the expedition, told AFP that “it is not clear whose dead body has been found”.
The search by high-altitude climbers and experts was backed by two Pakistan Army helicopters.
The pair had reached base camp on last Monday and were attempting the climb without the help of porters.
They were last seen on Monday and the alarm raised the following day by fellow climbers who had expected to cross paths with them.
A military helicopter spotted the climbers on Thursday, but the search was suspended due to poor weather conditions.
